Happy Fourth of July and welcome to this week’s NXT Redux! Yes, I’m filling in for birthday boy Jack. Go wish him a happy birthday, will you? Also, tell him how awesome this Redux was.
Anyways… let’s get to the action! After watching their estranged BFF fall to newcomer Becky Lynch, Charlotte and Sasha Banks are on their own this week, taking on Bayley and the aforementioned Becky. Let’s watch:
Bayley and Sasha start things off with a tie-up, Bayley ducking an attack from Sasha and catching her in an armbar. Sasha powers out of it, runs the ropes and finds herself flipped by Bayley. Bayley pulls Sasha to her feet and tags in Becky, who climbs the ropes and hits Sasha with a double axe handle. She then whips out the same move Bayley just used, turning an armdrag into an armbar. Again, Sasha gets to her feet pretty quickly, backing Becky into her corner and tagging in Charlotte.
The BFFs get in some double-teaming before Charlotte takes over, hitting Becky with a snapmare and going for the cover. Becky bridges out of the pin, running the ropes and blocking an armdrag by Charlotte. She flips impressively and switches the leverage, taking Charrlotte down with an armdrag of her own.
Becky has Charlotte in an armbar, but again the hold doesn’t last for long. Charlotte’s on her feet, but Becky doesn’t let go, bringing her over so she can tag in Bayley. Bayley is right on Charlotte, continuing to work on the arm. She makes a quick tag back to Becky, who tweaks the arm a bit more and tags Bayley back in. They hit the champ with a double suplex, taking out Sasha as she charges into the ring. The BFFs head to the outside to regroup while B&B celebrate in the ring. We head to a commercial.
When we come back, Charlotte’s not only back in the ring, but she’s in control too. She’s got her legs locked around Bayley’s neck in a figure four headlock. She soon flips over and tosses Bayley out of the hold, going for a pin that results in a two-count.
Charlotte tags in Sasha, who fights off Bayley’s attacks, toying with her a bit and taunting Becky before tagging Charlotte back in. After getting a boot to the face, Bayley’s down. Charlotte goes for another pin, but Bayley kicks out again. Charlotte nails her with a knee, going for another unsuccessful pin before tagging in Sasha.
The BFFs whip Bayley into the ropes, knocking her down in tandem. Sasha goes for yet another pin, but the resilient Baylry kicks out. Charlotte is tagged back in, choking Bayley in the corner before – yes, you guessed it – tagging in Sasha.
At this point, Bayley finally finds it in herself to fight back, tagging in Becky and allowing the new Diva to take out Sasha with a series of attacks. She hits Sasha with three legdrops in a row before covering her for the pin. Charlotte barges into the ring and breaks the pin. Bayley tries to even the score by entering the ring herself, but Charlotte tosses her through the ropes, heading back to her corner in time for Sasha to tag her in. Charlotte wastes no time, hitting Becky with the Bow Down to the Queen and getting the win for her team.
Thoughts: While it felt pretty repetitive, I think this was a really well wrestled tag match. You had both teams making frequent tags and trying to isolate their opponent, showing some good ring psychology. It didn’t feel too much like the main roster Diva tag matches we see so often, with the babyfaces taking the punishment to set up for the hot tag and babyface victory. Becky did get that hot tag, but as we saw, she couldn’t roll that momentum into a win.
Becky and Bayley make a pretty good duo: they’re both quirky, but great workers. I’m glad they toned down Becky’s quirkiness this week, though. No Irish step dancing! Hopefully this means she’ll be less of a novelty act going forward, but I don’t expect them to stop spitting out references to her Irish heritage every go-round. It’s her version of Tamina Snuka‘s “daughter of Jimmy Snuka” superlative that gets trotted out for every match.
I hope they find a way to make her stand out without being a joke. After all, we know how tricky it is to be a babyface NXT Diva without either being bland or outright silly. It’ll be a tough line to walk, but Becky’s got enough in-ring game to give me hope.
